The applicants herein have contemporaneously filed related applications entitled Truck Grille Guard Mounting Bracket and Articulation Controlling Apparatus.
This invention relates to highway trucks. More particularly, this invention relates to apparatus for attachment to highway truck front ends, such apparatus being adapted for protecting truck radiator grilles from impacts with animals straying onto highways.
A typical truck-tractor pulling a fully loaded trailer at 65 mph needs in excess of 200 feet to stop. As a result of such lengthy stopping distances, truckers who drive at night often fail to see deer standing in the roadway in time to stop short of impact. Upon impact of a truck""s front end with a deer, the deer""s torso commonly compresses against the truck""s radiator grille, driving the grille rearwardly into the truck""s radiator. The force of such an impact commonly breaks or ruptures fluid conduits within the radiator. Such radiator damage typically disables the truck from operation, resulting in expensive repairs and economically wasteful and expensive shipment delays and spoilage of perishable cargo. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a guard structure which is attachable to such truck which is adapted for protecting its radiator grille and its rearwardly lying radiator from damage.
Truck radiator grilles and radiators are difficultly protected because truck engine cowls or hoods are typically constructed of lightweight material and open by pivoting forwardly. The lightweight construction of common truck engine cowls makes them inappropriate structures for mounting support of radiator protecting frames and the like. Bumper structures provide firmer mounting support. However, mounting of protective frames upon truck bumper structures is complicated by the common forward pivoting motion of truck engine cowls. Truck grille guards which mount upon bumper structures and which extend upwardly across the truck radiator grille in a cantilevered fashion tend to undesirably lever against bumper structures upon impact with a deer, resulting in damage both to the bumper structures and to the radiator grille.
The instant inventive impact absorbing grille guard overcomes difficulties outlined above by providing an impact protecting grille guarding structure having a rear supporting frame, a front collapsible frame, by providing frame articulating means, and by providing mounting means which dually engages bumper structures and rearwardly lying truck chassis and wheel support structures.
The central or primary structural component of the instant inventive impact absorbing truck grille guard comprises a rear frame. Preferably the rear frame has a lateral dimension which allows it to co-extensively overlie the lateral width of a common truck radiator grille. Preferably, the vertical dimension of the rear frame is fitted and positioned so that its upper and lower ends may respectively overlie and underlie the torso or main body mass of a standing deer. Necessarily, forward surfaces of the rear frame define a forwardly opening deflection space. For purposes of achieving a high ratio of structural strength to weight, the rear frame preferably comprises a triangulating matrix of hollow bored steel bars or tubes. Suitably, though less desirably, the rear frame may comprise solid metal bar members.
A front frame is necessarily fixedly attached to the rear frame, the front frame preferably being positioned so that it spans and covers the rear frame""s deflection space both vertically and laterally. Preferably, the front frame comprises a rectangular array or grid of steel tubes which are capable of, upon impact with an animal such as a deer, both plastically deflecting rearwardly into the deflection space, and plastically internally collapsing in reduction of each tube""s longitudinal or front to rear dimension. The preferred capacity of the front frame for plastic deformation into the deflection space, and for plastic internal deformation beneficially spreads instantaneous impact forces over the transit time associated with the longitudinal deformation distance. Such deformability also beneficially converts a portion of the kinetic energy associated with an impact into heat, desirably reducing the magnitude of rebound forces experienced by the grille guard. Suitably, though less desirably, the web of the front frame may be configured other than rectangularly, and may comprise solid bar members rather than the preferred hollow tubular bars.
In addition to the front frame""s capacity for impact absorbing deformation, the rear frame is also preferably fabricated to have a capacity for slight elastic rearward deformation upon impact, such elastic deformation further reducing the magnitude of instantaneous forces applied to a truck upon impact with a deer.
Truck mounting means integral with and extending downwardly from the lower end of the rear frame are necessarily provided. Such means are necessarily capable of upwardly cantilevering the front and rear frames from a truck""s bumper area to overlie and protect a truck""s radiator grille cover. Preferably, the truck mounting means comprises a laterally elongated clevis whose front arm is preferably configured as a bumper mounting plate, and whose rear arm is preferably configured as a plurality of rearwardly extending arms, the distal end of each such arm preferably being adapted for fixed mounting upon the truck""s chassis members, spring hangers, or central tow hook arm. Preferably, a plurality of such rearwardly extending arms are themselves configured as left and right clevis arms for nesting receipt of and fixed attachment to truck chassis members or spring hangers. By fixedly mounting the preferred forward mounting plate of such laterally extending clevis upon the forward surface of a truck""s bumper, and by fixedly mounting distal ends of the rearwardly extending arms of such clevis to chassis members, spring hangers, or to the central tow hook arm of such truck, firm base support for cantilevered extension of the rear and front frames of the grille guard is provided.
Preferably, an articulating joint interconnects an extreme lower end of the rear frame with the forward surface of the mounting plate, such joint allowing the front and rear frames to pivot between their upwardly cantilevered impact absorbing position and a forwardly extending position which facilitates opening of the truck""s engine cowl. Preferably, such articulating joint comprises a plurality of common pin, eye, and clevis joints, the eyes preferably comprising sleeves which are integral with the extreme lower end of the rear frame, and the arms of the devises preferably being integral with the proximal ends of the rearwardly extending arms of the laterally extending clevis.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a protective structure attachable to truck front ends which is capable of protecting truck radiator grilles from impact with animals such as deer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a structure which achieves a high strength to weight ratio by utilizing tubular steel welded into a semi-rigid frame.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a structure which is adapted for rearwardly directed impact absorbing deformations and deflections.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a structure which upwardly cantilevers a grille guard, and which is capable of grille guard articulation, allowing for truck engine cowl opening and engine access.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a structure which incorporates a laterally extending clevis for secure mounting upon truck chassis, spring hanger, tow hook arm, and bumper structures.